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Google Maps icon change & problem


crawil

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I love the new cache icons used when we use Google Maps on the GC.com website, but the problem still exists that if you have more than 20 caches that show up on a page and then click on the "2" or "3", etc. at the bottom of the "xx Geocaches Found in search area*..." list, the stars and smileys do not update correctly. :D This is the same for both Firefox and IE 7.

 

Other than that, the other improvements are very cool! Thanks for listening to us!

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I love the new cache icons used when we use Google Maps on the GC.com website, but the problem still exists that if you have more than 20 caches that show up on a page and then click on the "2" or "3", etc. at the bottom of the "xx Geocaches Found in search area*..." list, the stars and smileys do not update correctly. :D This is the same for both Firefox and IE 7.

 

Other than that, the other improvements are very cool! Thanks for listening to us!

 

I'm on IE6 here and the buttons and icons all work as i'd expect with the map updating to show those in the list when I use the page selection buttons.

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Why is it not possible to ignore found caches in the map view? Would be much better!

 

This would be a great option! I live in cache rich area and although the new icons show which I have found, you still have to filter through to locate those that I havn't. If I could exclude those that I have found it would make life much easier to locate the unfound ones!!

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OK... I'll be the "lone dissenter" here. I love the Google Maps feature (one of my most used) and always lamented that the little "pins" didn't differentiate between found/un-found. So I'm thrilled with the new functionality, but the pins are huge! Couldn't we accomplish this with color and not that big honkin' box. Due to the quantity of caches it just obscures the entire map of my area making it useless.

 

Not trying to be negative, just giving feedback!

 

Thanks for all your work,

 

DCC

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OK... I'll be the "lone dissenter" here. I love the Google Maps feature (one of my most used) and always lamented that the little "pins" didn't differentiate between found/un-found. So I'm thrilled with the new functionality, but the pins are huge! Couldn't we accomplish this with color and not that big honkin' box. Due to the quantity of caches it just obscures the entire map of my area making it useless.

 

Not trying to be negative, just giving feedback!

 

Thanks for all your work,

 

DCC

 

There is a macro that was written for the off-line cache database program "GSAK" that will write out a local copy of a webpage with a google maps interface and it will show all caches in a certain area using the colors of the stick-pin to differentiate the cache type and indicate the found/unfound. If you zoom out further, then the clusters of caches turn into a bigger, blue stick-pin to represent the whole group.

 

This feature gives good info on dense clusters of caches if you are planning a cache numbers run, but I expect that it would add quite a bit of load to the (new) GC server hardware to create these clusters on the fly, depending on zoom level, etc.... Hence, I am *not* requesting this feature to be added to geocaching.com. I'll continue to use my GSAK macro: http://gsak.net/board/index.php?showtopic=3781

 

Now, back to the original issue here ; map icon size. I was shocked at the size of the icons as well, but when you consider that only 20 will ever be displayed on the screen at a time, then it can't be that bad. Color would be nice, but it would be much less intuitive for newcomers.

 

For the icons that do display on the GC google maps there now, though, the colors seem faded from the normal icons for traditional, mystery, and multi-cache.

 

And what's with the changing the selected icon to flat-red when you hover over it? Why not pop-up a cache details box instead?

 

And while we are requesting new features for this interface, could temporarily disabled caches be represented with a map-icon with a red 'X' over them or something?

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Why is it not possible to ignore found caches in the map view? Would be much better!

 

This would be a great option! I live in cache rich area and although the new icons show which I have found, you still have to filter through to locate those that I havn't. If I could exclude those that I have found it would make life much easier to locate the unfound ones!!

 

If you're a premium member try this:

1. Create a new Pocket Query that is setup to only show caches you haven't found, from your home coordinates (really you can use any PQ you want).

2. Once you've created it go back to your main list of Pocket Queries.

3. Locate your desired PQ and under the "Preview" heading click on the right icon (looks like a magnifying glass over a map).

4. That will open your pocket query in the Geocaching.com Google Maps mode and you will only see the caches pulled from the pocket query.

 

Jared of AZBliss02

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...I'm thrilled with the new functionality, but the pins are huge! Couldn't we accomplish this with color and not that big honkin' box. Due to the quantity of caches it just obscures the entire map...

I concur. They're a little big and on some maps they cover up road names at any zoom level. That said, they do look nice but I personally see the extra information on the pin itself as redundant since hovering over it highlights the detail on the right side anyway. Just my opinion. These new icons will take some getting used to.

 

...Color would be nice, but it would be much less intuitive for newcomers.

 

For the icons that do display on the GC google maps there now, though, the colors seem faded from the normal icons for traditional, mystery, and multi-cache.

 

And what's with the changing the selected icon to flat-red when you hover over it? Why not pop-up a cache details box instead?

 

And while we are requesting new features for this interface, could temporarily disabled caches be represented with a map-icon with a red 'X' over them or something?

I'm not worried about the new cachers... they don't have enough finds or hides to get confused. :D Besides, they can learn the colors as quick as the icons. I agree with the other points though and would love any extra information that doesn't take up map real estate. Use that detail section on the right for all kinds of status information and I'd be a happy cacher. Add the cache size & difficulty and I'd sign a lifetime membership agreement! I dig the log summary (found/dnf/note/etc) but I'm guessing that "published" will pretty much always be 1.

 

Regardless of the interface changes... I'm LOVING the new new server speed!

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This would be a great option! I live in cache rich area and although the new icons show which I have found, you still have to filter through to locate those that I havn't. If I could exclude those that I have found it would make life much easier to locate the unfound ones!!

If you're a premium member try this:

1. Create a new Pocket Query that is setup to only show caches you haven't found, from your home coordinates (really you can use any PQ you want).

2. Once you've created it go back to your main list of Pocket Queries.

3. Locate your desired PQ and under the "Preview" heading click on the right icon (looks like a magnifying glass over a map).

4. That will open your pocket query in the Geocaching.com Google Maps mode and you will only see the caches pulled from the pocket query.

 

Jared of AZBliss02

 

Forgot about that function. I already have such a query and have used the map in the past, just don't think through these things when I type here!

 

...I'm thrilled with the new functionality, but the pins are huge! Couldn't we accomplish this with color and not that big honkin' box. Due to the quantity of caches it just obscures the entire map...

I concur. They're a little big and on some maps they cover up road names at any zoom level. That said, they do look nice but I personally see the extra information on the pin itself as redundant since hovering over it highlights the detail on the right side anyway. Just my opinion. These new icons will take some getting used to.

 

...Color would be nice, but it would be much less intuitive for newcomers.

 

For the icons that do display on the GC google maps there now, though, the colors seem faded from the normal icons for traditional, mystery, and multi-cache.

 

And what's with the changing the selected icon to flat-red when you hover over it? Why not pop-up a cache details box instead?

 

And while we are requesting new features for this interface, could temporarily disabled caches be represented with a map-icon with a red 'X' over them or something?

I'm not worried about the new cachers... they don't have enough finds or hides to get confused. :D Besides, they can learn the colors as quick as the icons. I agree with the other points though and would love any extra information that doesn't take up map real estate. Use that detail section on the right for all kinds of status information and I'd be a happy cacher. Add the cache size & difficulty and I'd sign a lifetime membership agreement! I dig the log summary (found/dnf/note/etc) but I'm guessing that "published" will pretty much always be 1.

 

Regardless of the interface changes... I'm LOVING the new new server speed!

I agree with comments about size and colour of the boxes. They look great but obliterate the map. unavailable caches could easily have a small X in the box, and the popup box instead of the red overlay would allow for the GC code to be shown without having to click through each cache and wait for the info to open in the panel above.

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Good catch.

 

I'll take a look at that and see what's going on.

 

-Raine

 

It seems to be fine now (9:11am EDT). Tested in Firefox 2.0.

Tested using Opera 9.2 and Explorer. Not working on this end...

 

Cache status above 20 also not working with FireFox 2.0 (WinXP). Also note that when going back to 'Page 1", the cache status on those first caches aren't present.

 

As for pin & status icons, I too would prefer a minimally-sized pin with color coding to indicate find status, and let any other info (e.g., type) be displayed in the info boxes on the side.

 

Most of all, however, we appreciate that the site is demonstrably dynamic, both in responsiveness and in feature count. Thanks for the efforts!

 

Zigs

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Those new icons on the map are way too large! What was wrong with the small icons and colors?

The option to ignore found caches would be nice.

 

I do like most of the enhancements and speed to the website.

 

Good catch.

 

I'll take a look at that and see what's going on.

 

-Raine

 

It seems to be fine now (9:11am EDT). Tested in Firefox 2.0.

Tested using Opera 9.2 and Explorer. Not working on this end...

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I like that I can see which caches I have found and which I have not on a map. But I agree that the icons are too large. They can cover street names. When I tried to print a map on a black-and-white laser printer, I got a black rectangle under the balloon, which is also not optimal.

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I am the "next to the lone" dissenter !!! I absolutely DO NOT like the new goggle map icons -- they are HUGE and obscure the entire map, city name, road, you name it -- it is obscured!!!

 

Pls make them smaller --- or how about going back to how it was --- much better!

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I think its good to see which caches I have found already, but I could also life with a filter for all the founds very well. I have to agree that the cache-icons are too big.java script:emoticon(':(', 'smid_2')

:anicute: You have to zoom very much into the map, to be able to see the map and not just icons. I also think the old ones were ok - also the colours.

 

The rest is ok. Thanks for the professional work!java script:emoticon(':anicute:', 'smid_26')

;)Carry on!

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